TIFU by betting a dead horse

Do you know those days where you feel lucky, and just have to do something about it? Well today was Melbourne Cup day, and I felt like I could be the luckiest man in the country, and thus this fuck up begins. For those who don't live in the lovely land danger that is Australia, once a year we have a horse race that 'stops the nation'. Ever since I was younger, this race would be the talk of the day, even being pulled out of class in school to sit in front of a TV to watch it, mostly so the teachers could see if they'd won.

Being 22 years old, I decided this year that I was adult enough to bet on a horse, and with my inner fire of luck, I knew I was going to win. I messaged my brother-in-law, an avid gambler, but also someone who knows what he's talking about, and asked him if he had any tips. He gave me three numbers, 9, 17, 23. I went on break at work, and searched the horses on Google. Now the way this website had set it up this list was as follows:

Horsename (6)

Anotherhorse (15)

I looked at this list over and over, and me, an intellectual, became perplexed, wondering which number was the horse number. A coworker sees me looking like I'm smelling vinegar, and asks what's wrong. I tell him my plans, show him the page, and the true fuck up of this story, asked for his help.

'The horse number is in the brackets, and the number at the front is the gate number.'

When I got home from work, I looked over my options of 9, 17,and 23 over and over again. I finally decided on number 9, feeling like this could be my lucky break, but of course, disaster strikes early. All of the competent betting apps in Australia were down, because not only do we have the most dangerous spiders, but we also can't avoid a fucking server overload when more than 5 people want to use the same app.

After an hour of opening and closing the app, persisting through the trudges of slow loading times, slowly growing more and more impatient, I had finally done it. $20 on horse number 9. My victory was nearing, I could feel it. I turn the TV onto Channel 7, and begin to watch. All the horses are getting ready to race, and I'm excited, slightly shaking. The commentator mentions that my horse was 'sweating excessively', but I shook this off, obviously the horse was nervous, who wouldn't be. Once again, an intellectual. The horses lined at the gate, they get ready, and they're off!

Fast forward three minutes, and I've worked out my complete idiocy. I had the horse number and the gate number swapped the wrong way around. The winning horses in order? 23, 9, 17. I couldn't believe it. I worked out that if I had bet correctly, I would have won back $200, instead, I had lost $20.

But TheifSyn? What happened to your horse, what did it place? It didn't. No, the horse I chose, not only didn't place, but had to be put down on the track. Like my hope for a good day, the horse I had bet was dead. Dearest Reddit, luck was not with me today, it was against me.

TL;DR: I had a good tip on bets for a horse race, but got the horse number and gate number mixed up. The horse I would have chose came second, the horse I did choose died.

EDIT: Of course my top post is due to my ignorance and bad luck, should have seen that coming. I just wanted to write something to clear some stuff up. This post is not about how I lost $20 at the races. The money is insignificant to me. I do not condone horse racing, but I also do not hold it in disdain. I know the losses that the horse racing community has experienced are terrible, and I don't think it's made serious enough, but at the same time, a day where people come together with similar interests and goals, to have some fun and relax is important in our day and age. I got caught up in the flair of it all, and tried something different that I don't think I'll be trying again. I do feel for the horse, any loss of life is horrendous, no matter what conditions. I am a flawed human being, I'm not trying to hide that. It's spelled out within the story, I know who I am (a child parading as a 22 year old). The reason I decided to post this small segment of my life to this subreddit, was so that people could have a chuckle at my expense. To see how everything that could have gone so right, went so wrong. I appreciate the civil discussion, and there have been a lot of points made by both sides that are astounding, but I just wanted to clear up the idea I'm portraying. Thanks.

I never understood how anyone mistakes “there” - you can tell it’s the location one because it has the word “here” right in it, as though it was originally “that (specific) here). Same with “where” - “what (specific) here”.

NoNupNovember

At first I was like “wait what’s the exchange rate to USD or is this 1936 when $20 was a paycheck?”. Then I realized that even as a successful adult losing 50¢ in a vending machine is a pretty substantial blow to morale.

To be fair, how many other options do they have? Drag away a couple hundred kilo horse while it's in severe pain, not only from the fracture but you're dragging it causing it to move around and hurt more? I guess they could provide strong anesthetic and then remove it from the track before killing it, but realistically I don't think that's a whole lot better for either the horse or anyone involved. Clearly if it was put down then and there it was bad enough to render it required, if it was a minor injury I am very doubtful they would have acted the same

Used to work at a very big equestrian park in canada, horse broke something in its leg on the jumper course and just stood there. We had to get all of the tractors and water trucks and build a wall so the spectators couldnt see the vet inject it. I drove the giant forklift with giant pallet for the horse to flop onto. That was interesting. Horse got a tree and a plaque.

Yeah your right. It broke its right shoulder, the rails are on the left side. So I assume it was just a sudden catastrophic failure due to the stresses of racing. Also no-ones bringing out a shotgun on melbourne cup, they euthanise they horses as humanely as possible when things like this happen.

Crazy. Is it common for horses to sustain injuries that ultimately result in death in horse racing? I only ask because apparently 6 horses have either died during the race or had to be put down due to injuries sustained during the the Melbourne Cup since 2013.

Edit: The responses are pretty grim. I never really got into horse racing. I may pop on the Kentucky Derby if I'm not doing anything else, but I otherwise had no real knowledge of what goes on. Thanks for the responses!

Unfortunately it's quite common. Between August 2017 and July 2018, 119 horses died or were euthanised after injuries in Australian racing. I do like horse racing but it's really hard to defend this. Some people claim it's just bad trainers but the horses in the Melb Cup are among the most expensive in the world and come from the most reputable stables so it's a bit hard to swallow that. I still go to races and love the punt of the Cup so I can't really say anything though...

Greyhound racing is even worse for injuries and deaths. There is less legislation surrounding rehoming (UK) many are abandoned, killed or rehomed to be raced on unlicensed tracks or illegal hare coursing.

For these reasons exactly, it was made illegal in Australia recently. Where you draw the line between what’s acceptable and what’s not is unclear and always requires a bit of mental gymnastics. Why ban greyhound racing but not horse racing? Like I say, it’s hard to defend horse racing but I still do enjoy it..

It was banned in NSW a year or two ago. IIRC they did capitulate though after it was found out that the Premier that banned it gave all his friends first option rights on developing the real estate that used to be the race tracks and it was shown to be a corrupt decision.

It wasn’t made illegal in Aus, it was attempted to be made illegal in NSW and was reversed after a massive campaign to follow the recommmedations of the McHugh report rather than just ban the sport.

It was Mike Baird and Troy Grant’s massive knee-jerk reaction to ban it when that was not what was recommended.

Whilst greyhound racing has a bad rap, it is no worse than any other form of racing and did not deserve to be banned. Reformed sure, but banning no. Punish those who break the law rather than ruin a sport, people’s lives and ruin country towns who rely on the revenue and employ,ment greyhound racing brings.

The jockey is probably not to blame for a horse breaking down. There are a number of factors in play leading to horse injury, but remember jockeys aren't usually involved much with a racehorse's care.

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The main factor in a horse's soundness is daily care and maintenance, which is generally up to the trainer, owner and the horse's groom. Unfortunately, horses are surprisingly fragile and injury-prone throughout most competitive disciplines. Horses can break down due to conformation flaws or genetic predisposition even if they have the best care. Despite the high number of injuries in racing, the industry is generally invested in researching and preventing injury to horses in the future. They put a lot of time, money and energy into research to discover why horses break down and how to prevent it, because if they don't they know the racing industry will be toast. Other equestrian disciplines with less money for funding are also benefiting from this research.

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It's simple to say that racing is bad and leads to abuse of animals. In actuality, it is (like all things) a nuanced situation. There are a lot of good things to come from racing industry, there are bad things as well. It is good that there is public outcry to continue pushing the industry in the right direction, but horse racing in general is improving welfare for the horses. I personally don't think we will ever see the end of the racing industry in my lifetime, so I am happy to see them making strides to improve care for horses.

In my post I was referring to the research the racing industry has done to reduce injury not only to racehorses, but also other competitive horse sports.

They also participate in many studies to improve veterinary medicine and improve healing for all horses.

I'm not affiliated with the racing industry myself, but I do own horses and I benefit from racing industry's contribution to the equestrian community. If you ever read scientific research papers related to horse care, you'll note that a lot of them (and most of the ones I've read) study racehorses.

You think researchers adopt large groups of horses every time they want to do a study? Ha. No. The research subjects are recruited through veterinary practices, and remain the property of their owners. In many studies researchers don't even come into contact with the animals, they just collect specimens or clinical data from the vets for analysis.

In my post I was referring to the research the racing industry has done to reduce injury not only to racehorses, but also other competitive horse sports.

They also participate in many studies to improve veterinary medicine and improve healing for all horses.

I'm not affiliated with the racing industry myself, but I do own horses and I benefit from racing industry's contribution to the equestrian community. If you ever read scientific research papers related to horse care, you'll note that a lot of them (and most of the ones I've read) study racehorses.

Bonus perk of the racing industry outside of horses. In states like Kentucky and Maryland, it's a major part of the local economy. It creates jobs and expands tourism for the area.

On a smaller scale, many of the people who own racehorses love them like their own pets. (There are also owners who are less emotionally attached , but you asked about the good.) There are many happy, well cared for horses. People who love their horses like pets tend to keep them as pets when they finish racing, or rehome them to a loving, non-racing home.

I own two retired racehorses, I love them to the moon and back. Their previous racing owners loved them too, but my horses retired from racing completely healthy and they are bored and get into trouble without a job to do. So I adopted them, and turned them into my riding horses. I stay in touch with their racing owners and give them regular updates. My horses make me very happy, so on a very small scale that's another perk from the racing industry.

Thanks for the detailed response. I'm unconvinced that this continues to justify the injuries and deaths we see from horse racing.

We wouldn't need to research how to reduce injuries from racing if we weren't racing horses. The boost to the economy is contentious. I'm sure China's annual Lychee and dog meat festival is a major boost to the economy of Yulin, but does that justify killing and eating 1,000 - 1,500 dogs a day for ten days? I'm not comparing the two, but do you see my point?

I don't doubt that some owners love their racing horses like pets, but suspect they would love them without racing them, in much the same way as I'm sure you could own and love a couple of older horses that weren't ex racing horses.

As for why, I remember hearing this from a rancher I worked with- big thing with horses is they have overall horrible success rates overcoming leg injuries especially. Even if they make it, their quality of life is usually greatly diminished and have special medical requirements people just can't afford or dont want to devote the time to, on top of the horse living pretty miserably. More of a financial decision in horse racing, though :c

The end goal is to have a horse that wins enough so it's breeding capability is worth something, or the result is "euthanasia" - either by injury or choice. I doubt that many find homes as pets that people event on.

It's a blood sport without any sufficient argument to justify the harm.

That's true. It is difficult to support something that has a negative undertone to it.

Euthanasia on the animal is not a positive outcome, yet I would bet that many of these horse owners also have a great love for horses, at least they do here in USA.

The lack of quality of life for the horse is the leading factor for euthanasia. There are so many vets and horse lovers who have to put down their animals from similar injuries or illnesses. When a horse shatters his leg, it cannot support the weight again, at least without extensive rehab and and expensive and uncomfortable supports.

It's a sad part of horse racing, and I don't know enough to say if it ethically invalidates the sport, but the euthanasia is often an inevitable and last case scenario, albeit very tragic. Yet it is justified.

But the risk of a horse needing euthanasia due to injuries is greatly increased through participation in horse racing. At the end of the day, the horses gain nothing from it and are only used for human entertainment. Surely the risk outweighs the reward and makes the sport ethically immoral?

Well ethics is actually very complicated, especially concerning animal ethics. Your argument stems from a utilitarian perspective, however it is difficult to determine whether horses do not gain anything from racing. As a species, horse racing keeps the interest of humans to invest in care, fertilization, and maintaining a riding culture. Individually, race horses are better cared for because of the sport. This alone provides a large benefit that could outweigh the risk of potentially being injured.

In the concern of animal ethics, from a utilitarian view, it is difficult to demonstrate that these animals feel a loss in quality of life or would not wish to race.

Many argue further that there is a similarity to the risk of horse racing to that of many sports and professions, I.e. football, rock climbing, mining, downhill mountain biking. Similarly, we do many things that we don’t want to do as children, such as dangerous sports, sometimes only because parents desire their children to compete in the activity. We often see this as morally acceptable yet frowned upon.

This is further based on the view that animals experience a conscious level pain and a stream of conscious experience throughout their lives. Some disagree with this view.

Overall, it’s very complicated, but extremely interesting!

And the answer is usually, it depends!!!

(I have a masters degree in philosophy, focused on ethics, medical ethics specifically)

"As a species, horse racing keeps the interest of humans to invest in care, fertilization, and maintaining a riding culture. Individually, race horses are better cared for because of the sport."

How true is that though? As far as I'm aware, only rich people can afford to own and keep a horse. So there's 2 kinds of owners - rich people who race horses, and rich people who keep horses as companions for casual rides. And I imagine they both have the money and motivation to properly care for their horses. Who else owns horses?

I am by no means an expert, but currently a vet student in a "outer regional" town in Australia. Before that I grew up in Melbourne (typical suburban "city kid"). Horses are still widely used for work. I've done industry placements in a variety of settings and horses are pretty standard; whether that be mustering on stations or in feedlots, trail runs in adventure resorts.

I think it's a common misconception that only 'rich people' can afford horses, but I guess that also depends on your definition of rich. A significant number of my mates up here own horses and I wouldn't necessarily call them rich. They all study fulltime (our schedules can be upwards of 35-odd hrs a week) and in some way or another find the time to work and support both themselves and their horses. Some own their horses for specific purposes while others just have horses.

As for the sentiment regarding horse racing and the subsequent net benefits they provide horses and human investment to the species as a whole, I don't believe I'm really qualified to have an honest objective opinion. Animal welfare and ethics is integrated into any veterinary degree here in Australia, but in regards to the industry as a whole I don't think it's as black as white as the media makes it out to be. The common "pro-racing" argument that these sort of accidents can happen off the track is somewhat accurate, though I haven't had the time to review the literature systematically. Moreover, equine anatomy and lameness is an extremely complicated field and there are myriad of bone and overall postural conformations that predispose horses to a range of issues, so it's something that isn't as simple as "making it run faster and more frequently puts strain on the legs and therefore we should ban races". Having said that, I've only just completed my first semester that included a dedicated lecture series on equine lameness preceded by fundamental equine anatomy so I'd be out of my depth if you asked me to go into specifics. Equine veterinary medicine is something I've only recently developed an interest in.

Every year around this time you get the typical posts on social media regarding the racing industry and the usual bullshit in the comments sections. Good for a laugh but it's hardly a place for productive civil discourse. It gets the likes.

Well there are still some poor people around the world who need them as part of their livelihood, for transport of goods or whatever, and in developed countries like America there's the rural poor who can keep horses because they have land but have little actual income. Neither of those groups have anything to do with racing though, totally different worlds.

As a species, horse racing keeps the interest of humans to invest in care, fertilization, and maintaining a riding culture. Individually, race horses are better cared for because of the sport. This alone provides a large benefit that could outweigh the risk of potentially being injured.

Horse racing is actually pretty far removed from your average riding culture among leisure riders, which I'm willing to bet would be entirely unaffected by the loss of that particular sport. There are also plenty of other equestrian disciplines into which a lot of money and work is invested - eventing, showjumping, dressage, barrel racing, endurance riding, harness racing, driving, showing etc - and Thoroughbreds or Thoroughbred crosses are popular mounts for many of these sports, so the breed would be unlikely to face extinction. If racing didn't exist, race horses wouldn't need to be well cared for because they wouldn't exist either.

Most racehorses love racing. Anyone who's ever ridden past a field of grazing horses will tell you that if you canter past them, they'll freely run up to the fence to race alongside you. It's part of their herd nature - when one horse runs, the others want to run with it. They're also not capable of assessing the risks involved and making an informed choice to put their lives in danger, so their humans have a responsibility to make those choices for them in the best interests of the animal.

Many argue further that there is a similarity to the risk of horse racing to that of many sports and professions, I.e. football, rock climbing, mining, downhill mountain biking. Similarly, we do many things that we don’t want to do as children, such as dangerous sports, sometimes only because parents desire their children to compete in the activity. We often see this as morally acceptable yet frowned upon.

The major and obvious difference here is that human atheletes have the capacity to understand the risks involved and decide that the sport is worth the risk. Animals don't have that kind of insight, and as I said above that makes the humans that bred/own them responsible for that decision. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would consider it morally acceptable for a parent to pressure an unwilling child into a potentially dangerous sport - I know it's legal and it happens, but surely it's pretty widely considered immoral? Even a young child has more insight and understanding of risk than a horse.

This is further based on the view that animals experience a conscious level pain and a stream of conscious experience throughout their lives. Some disagree with this view.

There is no debate over the ability of mammals to consciously experience pain. We know they do, it's been studied and proven. Stream of consciousness is harder to study, though the fact that they can obviously be trained and remember past experiences must count for something.

Yes, it's complicated, but I don't think it's as complicated as you're proposing. Personally I think it's as simple as "people enjoy it, the horses enjoy it (when they're not injured), it makes a shitload of money, let's ignore the ethical issues." Same with American football and brain injuries (we enjoy it, it's profitable, don't think about the harm caused) and the meat industry (I say this as someone who does eat meat for selfish reasons but realises that factory farmed meat is objectively terrible for animal welfare and the environment), and even things like buying products made in sweatshops or sold by companies with histories of wildly unethical, even criminal actions. It's easier to ignore stuff like that and continue to enjoy the results.

It's not specifically in racing, it's anywhere you have horses. Their ankles are bizarrely fragile for what they are and it's almost impossible to get it to heal correctly. If a horse anywhere steps in a gopher hole wrong while eating, or gets in a fight with another horse (pretty common actually) there is just no reasonable treatment.

Not only are the injuries far worse but it's a horse... You can't put it in a wheelchair and it'll be fine in six weeks - harness and slings produce horrible outcomes and the quality of life of the few that do heal up is reduced because their limbs will never be the same again.

This is before you look into the way that shattered hones can often cause open wounds and pierce organs in the animal... Euthanasia really is the nicest thing you can do.

I agree, in the circumstance that a horse is injured, euthanasia is the nicest thing you can do. But the even nicer thing you can do, is everything possible to avoid injuring a horse in the first place

It's required more than in other equine sports, but horses break legs a lot. We run a stable and we've had to put down horses because they stepped on something weird, or kicked a fence, or got kicked by another horse.

A riding coach of mine has an ex-racehorse we call P, she's miserable. Had a leg problem racing, not even a break, watching her walk is sad. Leg injuries generally end the horses career (racehorse, show jumper, pony used for riding lessons, for example) Horses flip the fuck out in many situations, it's very common a horse will break a leg and end up euthanized because recovery is rough, and horses don't tolerate it well.

I'm a rider (showjumping), and have ridden many ex-racehorses, they're pretty great for riders of all levels depending on their personality. Racing is exciting, but horses and jockeys have high injury and death incidents. We say in riding, it's not if you get hurt, it's when.

You can’t defend the euthanasia? Wouldn’t it be better for them to be put down, as opposed to suffer in recovery if the prognosis is not good? Sadly, the horses don’t get a choice. They’re bred to run for their lives, for the money and entertainment value they provide. Some people say “oh but the horses love it, they love to run”... I’m sure they don’t get a choice in the matter.

I've had the honour of speaking to a few trainers and stud breeders, their explanation was along the lines of the horse betting bed to run, with leg injuries their confined to a 3x3m stable, in a sling, for upwards of 3 months, and even after this there unlikely to ever run a race again. And they're simply not bred with the temperament to be a pet horse. So the humane thing for the animal is to euthanase it.

Not saying I agree nature has intent or not, but replace "mean" with "provide horses with the biological systems (via evolution) necessary to withstand the constant rigors of racing and various related aspects thereof" and it works fine.

Edit: fat fingered the post before slimming it down by cutting it to just the relevant bit.

Common to an extent. It's something like 1-2 deaths per 1000 starts. 119 horses is a lot, but unless you watch hundreds of races you won't likely see a horse need to be put down.

Ultimately, horses are fragile, and any time they do anything where they risk falling they risk breaking a leg and needing to be put down. Racing is obviously a high risk activity, and so is recreational riding in jumps or wilderness trails. The best trainer in the world can't give a horse perfect footing.

Well I’d argue that’s pretty high. I mean, if 0.1% of human athletes died in a given sport we’d take a serious look at the sport.

I’m not saying it should be outright banned. But we should, and in lots places are, looking at ways to reduce the risk to horses and jockeys in racing. Serious reforms were brought into F1 after some tragic deaths and injuries. We should treat horse racing the same. Especially as horses don’t get a choice in their profession.

Yeah, definitely agreed. I'm not entirely against horse racing since for the most part the horses are treated very well and often they are competitive and seem to enjoy racing, but it's terrible when any horse is killed. I'd fully support making it safer if it was possible to do so.

It's pretty cool. A lot of racing comes down to the horse's spirit. If a horse doesn't care about winning, no amount of spurring them on will get them to push themselves. But some horses really seem to care about beating the others, and you can tell how they pick up and really become energized when they see another horse is catching up. They're very human in a sense, and off the track they also have a lot of character.

So, what ive always thought of when i think about whether a horse enjoys racing or not is our retired standard bred, Rex. We took an opportunity after he retired to board him at a riding stable. It kept him active, we got a summer away from feeding him(at this point we were out of racing, so we weren't making money on keeping our horses, they were pets), it was a win-win. I went on a trail ride with some of the instructors, i was riding our other horse, Susie, and one of them had Rex. Now, you usually have an experienced rider and horse leading the ride - that horse wasnt Rex. He had spent 14 years racing, he wasnt an ideal riding horse. But let me tell you, you could not keep that guy in the middle or end of the pack of horses - he was a winner and all these other horses were slow as fuck. Every time his rider tried to pull him up to the middle or back of the pack, he fought back until she just gave in. You win, Rex, good boy.

At what point does society accept the science of brain trauma caused by playing football?

I'd highly recommend to anyone they should definitely watch the movie Concussion with Will Smith. When you see that movie you finally get it that the players' brains are forensic proof speaking to the world of the living for the dead.

It's estimated that over 30 percent of current players will have CTE in their lifetime. Amd thats the number published by the league's own actuaries.

You can say something man. If you love the sport and horses you can champion a movement restricting the amount of deaths stables are allowed to uave a year. In the Ididarod in Alaska we just switched to kicking out any musher who has a death and all dogs are autopsied for cause of death.

Horses don't heal broken bones, their skeletature is very dense, it would take 3 months of bed rest to heal broken bones, but horses don't do well, they can't isolate/cast the bone as the horse would be distressed and it can't lay down for 3 months or else the weight of itself will crush it's organs. If a race horse gets an injury, it's best to just euthanize it.

I’ve also heard approximately 18,000 horses per year are bred for horse racing, but only 300 of every thousand are good enough to make it. The rest are sent to slaughter for pet food. That’s pretty disturbing.

horse racing doesn’t get “protection”. thousands of horses each year are put down, sent to slaughter, and maliciously beat by and for the race track. it’s just as unethical as any other animal racing, and should under no circumstances be supported.

Thank you! Apparently no one else can see how cruel the racing industry is. I work with horses daily and have been around ex-racers. Those horses are so fucked in the head from their "training", it's horrifying.

It really is. One I knew would run himself to exhaustion if he was let off the lead in the arena because that was all he knew. This thread is just as depressing: everyone knows there are major issues yet they keep on supporting it.

Drag Hunts chase a scent which is usually from fox urine laid down by a runner, or sometimes it’s just the scent of the person running across the country. They wouldn’t get very far dragging half a ton of dead horse around the countryside - they wouldn’t be able to get over any fences that’s for sure! Besides, the hounds wouldn’t need such a scent to follow, the trail of the live horse doing the leg work would be enough.

Hunt yards dispose of dead horses / livestock by feeding them to the hounds, but as far as I am aware, and I am a countryside dweller in the uk, they don’t drag them about to chase.

Dang, that seems like a lot for one race. America's biggest horse race, the Kentucky Derby, has only had one death on the track and that was in 2008. (Not to say horses don't die regularly at other racing events in america, I was just drawing parallels between our countries big derbies)

We’ve had a lot of breakdowns too. Some ending up with euthanized horses. Barbaro, eightbelles, come right to mind but I know there are more.

Its worse when you realize that the US Triple crown races are run by 3 year old horses...these races are some of the first big ones they have ever run and for many it will be their last either due to injury or because its more cost effective to put them right into stud and not risk anymore injury

Barbaro broke down on the track, but they attempted to save him. To save a horse with a broken leg, they have to live in a full sling for weeks. Most horses don't have the temperament for this. They got Barbaro's leg healed at first, but during rehab his weak leg caused him to put too much pressure on the other front leg, and he foundered. He didn't do well back in the sling, and reinjured the original leg again. They put him down months after the original injury. Thousands of dollars went into the attempt to save him, and were ultimately fruitless.

It's sad, but usually more humane to euthanize right away. Horses have poor circulation in their legs and rarely recover from leg injuries.

To be fair, two of those deaths were post race. Araldo got spooked coming back to the yard and kicked out, his back leg got caught in a fence and it broke. Admire Ratki died of heart failure about 40 minutes after the race. Was the type of thing where he could have gone for a trot in a paddock and his heart would have given out.

What is even worse than the injuries, is that a large percentage of the horses are sold for slaughter if they don't earn enough. I live in the states, so I can't comment if Australia is the same. I don't have exact numbers, but there is a saying...7 days from stable to table. So the death count is far, far higher.

Technically, they are sold at auction and anyone can buy them. But most of the buyers are in the meat industry. In the states, we ship them to canada or mexico (as it is currently illegal to slaughter them here) and they are exported for consumption.

And they REALLY shouldn't be eaten, because just about any horse alive has had a medicine called bute (an NSAID that is carcinogenic to humans). Right on the label for bute it says "Not for use for horses intended as food". That is only one of many often administered drugs. They aren't raised for consumption, so nobody is safeguarding their "meat'.

source: have 2 rescued horses, one an Off the Track Thoroughbred & have volunteer for horse rescues.

Big problem about reaching and injuries is that the horses are still babies. Horses spines and knee caps haven't even closed until they reach the age of FOUR, which is when most reliable people in other riding sports recommend training a horse to accept a rider. So, these race horses are not only broke to ride, but racing full out with riders at two year olds+. Their bodies aren't ready to handle the weight of a rider and racing at top speed. Catastrophic injuries at the frequency we see are really not much of a surprise.

Yes. They are 1200+ lb animals running 40mph on toothpicks in a crowded field of other 1200+ lb animals going 40mph.

Racehorses are specialists, they work in a very narrow set of ways. Even when shit goes fine its not hard for them to lame up over something small. Anything more than a small injury is generally life threatening, and a big injury likely results in on track euthanasia

I saw a horse being put down on the track once, it was fucking awful. It had fallen and broke it's leg during the race and was flailing all over the ground. They put up a curtain but I still saw through the side, it was terrible.

It's extremely common. More so in the less prestigious races. You have no idea how cruel the racing industry is. They pump out so many goals. They run them way too hard and drug them up before their bones are even fully developed. Then if they dont die on the track, they get sold to slaughter once no longer profitable.

Yes, horses are fragile animals with little ways to help them once they're injured. A leg break is almost guaranteed to be lethal, either due to never being able to walk again or the animal just gets executed where it lays.

Hope everyone’s having a great time getting all glammed up and putting bets on the pretty horses today!!!

Statistics show that nearly all horses in the race today will experience bleeding in the lungs, while 50% of horses racing will experience bleeding in the windpipe. 89% of these racehorses will have stomach ulcers. All will be thrashed by a whip.

Will another horse collapse and die after the race like the two that did after the Melbourne Cup in 2014? Or die after breaking a leg like Red Cadeaux in the 2015 Melbourne Cup race? Stats show that approximately every 3 days, a horse will die on the racetrack in Australia.

During training, these horses spend approximately 22 hours of every day alone in a stall the size of a bedroom, resulting in digestive and behavioural abnormalities. They are drugged to mask the pain from being overworked, and fed food with unnaturally high energy content.

The average ‘career’ of a racehorse is 3 years, after which they are ‘discarded’. Every year, 10000-25000 ‘discarded’ racehorses who didn’t ‘make the cut’ are slaughtered for dog food.

Happy Melbourne Cup day.

Update: Regal Monarch has died after a 'horror fall' at the 2017 Melbourne Cup Carnival.

I share this every year so people stop asking me if I'm betting on the fucking death race. It's genuinely horrible.

*Hope everyone’s having a great time getting all glammed up and putting bets on the pretty horses today!!!

Update: Regal Monarch has died after a 'horror fall' at the 2017 Melbourne Cup Carnival.*

Tbh fuck this guy. Alot lot of us younger crowd in Australia have been sharing/spreading the message how cruel horse and dog racing actually is is to to discourage the practices. As well as donating etc

Speciesism is where you value one species over another, like you are outraged against dog abuse, but pay to have cows, pigs, and chickens killed for your pleasure. It's usually an issue of cognitive dissonance, where we grew up in an environment that that was the norm. There's r/stopspeciesism if you're interested. Thanks for asking :)

Does it really matter? If we were eating dogs, and horses while having pet pigs then the complaint would be cognitive dissonance regarding our pet pigs. We're going to choose to only eat a few species for whatever reasons so what does it matter, the ones we choose suffer and the ones we don't suffer less but the suffering is the same. Cows and pigs and chickens are probably more efficient for meat production regardless. We should start growing meat on a cell level at some point which will be good but even as of now I just don't understand the problem there.
Are you outraged when you see a homeless guy sleeping on the street, not really, if you saw a friend of yours you'd be. Why does your employer keep you around, because you make yourself useful enough, if you ceased to be useful you wouldn't get slaughtered and eaten but sure get fired. Why do we keep anyone around, ultimately they are useful to us for whatever reason even though we don't necessarily think of it that way consciously. Dogs, cats, and horses were historically very helpful to us and have kept a higher status amongst animals to us and are still friends to our species, that's just how it is.
Also we really only eat herbivores, eating carnivores would bring even more health issues to the table.

Statistics show that nearly all horses in the race today will experience bleeding in the lungs, while 50% of horses racing will experience bleeding in the windpipe. 89% of these racehorses will have stomach ulcers. All will be thrashed by a whip.

Will another horse collapse and die after the race like the two that did after the Melbourne Cup in 2014? Or die after breaking a leg like Red Cadeaux in the 2015 Melbourne Cup race? Stats show that approximately every 3 days, a horse will die on the racetrack in Australia.

During training, these horses spend approximately 22 hours of every day alone in a stall the size of a bedroom, resulting in digestive and behavioural abnormalities. They are drugged to mask the pain from being overworked, and fed food with unnaturally high energy content.

The average ‘career’ of a racehorse is 3 years, after which they are ‘discarded’. Every year, 10000-25000 ‘discarded’ racehorses who didn’t ‘make the cut’ are slaughtered for dog food.

Happy Melbourne Cup day.

Update: Regal Monarch has died after a 'horror fall' at the 2017 Melbourne Cup Carnival.

i think it’s safe to say as someone who’s still young, my generation definitely believes the melbourne cup is outright cruel. it’s really only something people in generations above think is ok to continue doing. hopefully this melbourne ‘cup’ can be abolished one day because it’s just honestly an embarrassment

Not all trainers are abusive, not all horses are mistreated, but it’s basically impossible to engage with the industry without contributing to the mistreatment and abuse of those that are. It’s not like making ethical clothing purchases or eating free range eggs and chicken to minimise harm.

Plus, even the best treated horses can still suffer pretty horrible accidents and have to be put down.

Also gambling is a stain on humanity and imo shouldn’t be supported regardless of animal welfare issues.

Yeah there's a lot of welfare issues in horse racing, training methods are one, risk of injury during races, lot of health issues with the horses themselves because they're bred to run faster and faster but also need to be light, (leads to an increased risk of fractures), race horses iirc are also prone to gastric issues because you basically hop them up on high energy food and often keep them stalled, excessive use of whips by jockeys, race horses are broken in and start running when they're very young so they're not fully grown

Not sure what your stats are coming from but ex race horses of Australia actually live an awesome life. The RIDRC showed that 25000 ex racing horses currently compete in smaller scale competitive events, whilst 60000 are alive and well in recreational scenarios. The activists have been claiming this year that 18000 horses are put down a year, even though the Australian Stud Book registers 15000 horses on average born each year. Something doesn't make sense. I'm not saying horse racing isn't cruel, at the end of the day some horses won't enjoy their lives on the track, but it's unfair to downplay the thousands and thousands of people that devote their lives into caring for these ex-race horses through adoption or volunteer work.

nuptothecup

Or even worse : he could have empathy and feelings for the poor horse who was probably 2 or 3 years old given racing standards, and spent most of that being prepped for races and beaten like madness during races, only to die for nothing more than a bunch of people who can't see further than their own desires.
You know, if he developed some empathy he might feel bad not about loosing 20$ but about having financed a system that turns intelligent, gentle animals into track-side casualties.
But yeah, from the post I guess the poor horse can go fuck itself hey.

Don't bet on horse races. How they treat the horses is awful. I grew up learning to ride on a "retired" racehorse because he was so friendly and sociable. Four years in, we learn more of his history between the vets and talking to people. The lovely, beautiful, kind horse that I spent 3 years riding hasn't been ridden in 16 years because they beat him horrifically in an attempt to make him more agressive. At one point, his back was broken. His arthritis was so bad, that in 2004 he was given 1-2 years before he would need to be put down.

He is still alive and relatively well. On good days he likes to run through the arenas and show that there is nothing on 4 legs as fast as him. On bad days it sounds like 2x4's snapping when he moves. It brings great pain to my heart to know he suffers daily because someone wanted to make him go faster.

I'm going to go upload a picture of my giant black beast. Just typing this out depressed me. I hope that at least one person reads this and reconsiders animal races and competitions. They don't usually have good lives.

This horse is amazing. If I go running through the desert, he chases me. I could probably lay down and go to sleep with him. We have 3 miniature horses, and he treats them like kids that just won't grow up. All 9 of these guys live better lives than I do.

Ah dude, that's really upsetting to hear, but it's so nice there are people like you and your family in the world that care for these guys after what they've gone through. He's a beautiful looking horse. Give him a nice chin pet for me, if it's any consolation.

Melbournian here, they should just cancel the event forever. It's a public holiday on the Tuesday and lots of places are closed on the Monday as well (the loss of productivity), injury to horses and excuse for bogan women to dress up and get shitfaced don't justify the extra economic injection some tourists bring over the weekend.

I hate the Melbourne Cup. One horse has died there every year for the last 6, and it’s just not worth it. The horse that died broke its shoulder before the race, but they made it run anyway and it collapsed 600m in. The winner ended up being so exhausted that it was frothing at the mouth.

The one year I bet on the Derby I bet on a trifecta and chose my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place picks in order. My picks ran 1st, 2nd, and 4th. The last one was actually running 3rd for a hot second and got passed close to the end.

Edit: this was for the 2014 derby and I chose California Chrome, Commanding Curve (yes, I chose the 37-1 for my second place), and Wicked Strong. Fuck u, Danza.

The one year I bet on the Derby I bet on a trifecta and chose my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place picks in order. My picks ran 1st, 2nd, and 4th. The last one was actually running 3rd and got passed close to the end.

Not about cost at all. It's pretty much impossible to heal fractures on horses. You can't lay them down, their weight will crush organs and cut off blood flow. You can't suspend the injured leg, this puts too much weight on other legs. It's actually the most humane thing to do to euthanize.

Yup, nobody tries to fix broken legs on horses unless they have more money than God and even then it rarely works and the horse probably wouldn't be able to be ridden again. In the case of Barbaro, i think the end goal was to be able to breed him (also he was the media darling, and fans don't take well to their hero getting the blue juice).

Our response was originally to someone who was against the euthanization of the horse with the fracture injury, saying they only did it because it was cheaper, when in reality it is inhumane to keep it alive as explained by Helix above.

No, horses bones don't break. They shatter. Also, even if you could put the bone back together somehow, you would find that it was warped out of shape - because the last thing the bone does before it shatters is bend terribly out of shape. (like a shelf that supports too much weight will bend out of shape)

That and a lot of them time breaks and fractures just don’t heal on horses without serious time and money being spent on them. You have to look at a racing yard as a business. It makes sense to euthanise the horse rather than spend tens of thousands to maybe let it walk again but not really do much else. I’m going to sound a bit heartless but you wouldn’t keep an employee who did nothing but fail to meet deadlines or show up to work etc, business wise it makes no sense to keep a horse alive that isn’t going to do a whole lot for the yard except maybe go to stud.

I have no pity for you. It’s disgusting and should be outlawed. And the fact that you care more about the money you lost on a horrendous “sport” than the fact that that horse probably only knew pain and suffering being pushed to his physical limits in his 5 years makes me sad for humanity. I’ve been in Australia for over 3 years. I love it, but this? It’s disgusting.

I am real. Have you actually had any contact with the racing industry? I have. I've been to the stables of some of the better train*ers in Australia.
*
The food they get is perfectly formulated for that particular horse, more fresh fruit and veg than any poverty stricken family. They want for nothing. They're treated like royalty. If they don't want to run in the morning at training they don't run they get popped out in the yard and chill all day

Bro come you have to admit it's not the most pleasant industry for the horses. Sure they are fed well that doesn't mean they get treated well if you actually spent lots of time in the stables you'd know that surely. My sister used to work in one, turns out she probably unknowingly helped drug those horses that came out in the news earlier this year.

I'm not saying it should be banned but a reform on the treatment of the animals may he in order.

Maybe don’t support a barbaric and cruel practice that encourages binge drinking, animal cruelty and gambling. It’s not just a bit of fun - it’s a terrible event that needs to end sooner rather than later.

I don’t follow flat racing, but UK & Irish jump racing - and the trends of the past winners of races plays a major factor - I chose the winner of the Grand National and a few other races at the Cheltenham Festival by choosing horses based on previous trends

All it is is luck, anyone who says any different is deluding themselves into thinking they can beat the system. If you could be successful consistently at gambling betting sites/shops wouldn't be open, but an awful lot of the fools who gamble actually believe they know what they are doing when they have just as much of a shot as the randomer who picks a pretty name.

The vast majority of people who bet on horses don't do it for fun, they do because they are gambling addicts and can't admit they have a problem, day in day out absolutely hooked on it and it's pathetic.

I have absolutely no problem with gambling responsibly but most people are unable to do so responsibly.

As a huge fan of racing based in the UK, Cliffs of Moher was an incredible loss and yet another reminder how the lives of these horses are so fragile. We must always put horse welfare before trying to win money. That being said, the Melbourne cup is always a great spectacle and didn't disappoint with its carnival atmosphere this year.

I feel you buddy. I’ve been banned from ever betting on UK Grand National horses by my wife, after consecutively betting three years running on horses that suffered fatal injuries and were either put down on or off the track.

I've literally never watched horse racing, or been around it, so all the imagery that I get is from that one episode of Leverage, "The Two-Horse Job". The one where they're screwing over that guy at the horse races.

I feel this man, glad it was only $20 at least! Won in my company sweeps, but on my way to buy everyone a round at the pub we met a man who put his 'entire life savings' into that horse... I mean sure it's his own stupidity to drop savings like that but he was so sure...

This is a common joke where I'm from about the Grand National race. Everyone asks you after if you bet on it and often people would reply "No chance, last year I bet and my horse was fuckin dead by the end of the race."

My great grandfather was a bookmaker. One race the favourite was leading coming up to the last hurdle. My grandad was worried, thinking they’d be bankrupt in a minute. His dad didn’t seem phased by this realistic possibility. Favourite fell at the last hurdle. Don’t gamble on sports , kids.

I'm sorry it's my fault. I have notoriously bad luck and I had $2 on a random horse through work and ended up with ol cliffy, most of my colleagues were joking about my bad lack and saying it would be last. Turns out she did a bit worse than that...

Poor Cliffsofmoher. On a related note, I flat out told my colleague that Cross Counter was going to win the cup. I've tipped it correctly 5 years in a row and didn't think I'd get it wrong this year either.

Instead of listening to me he chucks a bet on some other rando horse. What a dud.

I'm confused, in the USA the number the horse wears (its cloth number) is the same number as its post position. Why do those horses have two numbers? Are you talking about its program number? That's the number you use to place a wager, at least in person at the track.

Edit: To all other Americans that may also be confused. Apparently, in other countries, the post position and saddle cloth number do not have to correspond. They assign cloth numbers via weight (I think) and then use some strange system for assigning different post positions. Talk about making it more difficult than it has to be. I don't blame OP at all for making a mistake.

It was $20 dude. Pocket change really. And this is the biggest horse race in the country. Majority of Aussies will have a fun little punt today on the horse. It's probably the only time of year that any of us actually place bets.

obviously the horse was nervous

My cousin once lost a horse race and yelled "Screw you horse #12" and no joke it fell over and had to be put down after that. Another friend once lost his $200 winnings because he unknowingly put them in a pocket that had a hole in them. Horse races are awesome, but sometimes the luck just does not swing your way.

As a young Australian myself I can't help but become insulted by the horrendous and stupid sport of horse racing, which is merely for gambling practices and not for 'entertainment'.

Gambling is huge problem here, ive seen it destroy homes and relationships and yet my fucking retarted country supports and promotes it. Like seriously every second ad and they're always targeting young males.
This shit just makes me sick.

I had a similar experience at the race tracks. I use a 'system' that I devised involving past performances. My 'system' identified a lock in a big race at a track in Maryland. My horse was ahead coming into the home stretch, then he stumbled and fell throwing the jockey off. After the race was over, vets checked out the horse, then called for some attendants who surrounded the horse with a large sheet shielding it from being seen by the spectators. The horse was put down there then carted off the track

We had a sweepstakes at work. Put in your money and get randomly assigned a horse. If yours wins, you get the money. Workmate walked past and told me i think your horse is going to win. Yay! Magic Circle number three.
Fecking donkey. Came in 16th. 16th!
Bastard. Did better than Cliffs of Moher though. Sorry for your loss

Looks like Cliffs of Moher jumped off the cliff. Unlucky. I quickly chose that horse 5 mins before start as it was English (good for wet) and had something like 20 to 1 odds. Nek minet horse comes last and gets a bullet in the head.

No, you just acted like a dickhead. Most of the top comments are calling to end the races, and calling them inhumane, but you acted like a cock, that's why you're downvoted.

It's not that stupid "Hahaha they downvoted me because they know I'm right and I hit a nerve" nonsense you're probably thinking right now to justify your behaviour to yourself, it's because you come across as a loathsome person.

Yet the industry is riddled with doping the horses, and paying little attention to their care.
The horse was visibly in distress before the race started. OP's words. Diaphoresis is a sign of severe stress on the body.
By your standards, parents who don't get medical treatment for their kids and they die are beyond reproach because they didn't intend for their children to die, even though they took actions that allowed it to be a major risk.